NEW DELHI: Centre is mulling to provide100 percent funding to leather industry to set up effluent treatment plants along Ganga banks to check pollution in the most polluted stretch of the river.
The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) has Friday called a meeting all stakeholders from industry including experts from Chennai based Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI), Tamilnadu Water Investment Company Limited (TWIC) to find ways to stop effluents flowing from tanneries into the river.
Stopping flow of effluents from leather industry around Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh has remained a big challenge for the authorities and that is one of the most polluted stretches on the Ganga.
“We are mulling to provide 100 percent funding to leather industry for setting up effluent treatment plants to ensure zero liquid discharge in the river but they will have to bear the cost of operation and maintenance,” said a senior water ministry official.
The official further said that the leather industry association have expressed their concerns that operation and maintenance cost of treatment plants for zero liquid discharge will be huge and they will lose on the market.
“We have called experts in leather sector and they will sit with the industry to find an economical solution so that flow of effluent from tanneries can be stopped,” the official added.
Early this month, Centre has approved Rs 280 cr projects related to sewage treatment plants (STPs) in Haridwar and Varanasi under Namami Gange programme to clean the holy river. More cities are being finalized to set up STPs.
Namami Gange programme was launched as a mission to achieve the target of cleaning river Ganga in an effective manner with the unceasing involvement of all stakeholders, especially five major Ganga basin States – Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal.
The programme envisages River Surface Cleaning, Sewerage Treatment Infrastructure, River Front Development, Bio-Diversity, Afforestation and Public Awareness.